soft ear, paused speak

Seems like this past week has been fraught with public displays of bad behavior and I’m sure thousands of private outbursts that we will never hear about. One of them was on course to be identified as the shrill sound of me blowing a gasket after I opened an email that summoned me to a 5:45am drama in four days. On said morning, I carefully dressed myself in anxiety with a sash of annoyance (well coordinated of course). Thankfully, the person who greeted me was not the one who had sent the message. I was in for soft ear and paused speak. The hair that was already standing at attention ready for battle retreated and sat unguarded on my head. My nostrils sighed with relief knowing there would be no need to flare like a bull. And my back never got up but slouched comfortably against the chair. This person listened, waited to speak…we had a healthy exchange. No outbursts, no bad behavior private or otherwise.

The tendency to allow our tempers and emotions to go from zero to the moon in less than a millisecond is far from pretty or productive. Before you take that ride, put it in park and bring into conscious a picture or feeling of something soothing, something that centers you, forces a surge of smile to course through your body. I know you’ve heard it before but just breathe…

keep your peepers open! ®